It’s A Slow Fade

I think that people learn best when they go through personal situations. When I was 12, my dad got very sick, and doctors could not figure out what was wrong with him. As a family, for weeks they told us all they could do was keep him comfortable, until they figured out what was going on. Being 12, I was very confused, upset, and scared. I couldn’t understand why he was hurting and why the doctors weren’t making him better. After about four weeks of torture for us all the doctors came to a diagnosis. My dad was in stage 3 of chronic milocetic leukemia. Cancer is a very scary word that no one wants to hear. Even being so young, I could see the fear in my dad; I had never seen him cry until that day. I didn’t know what to do; I was lost. I just wanted to give up on everything and stay with him, along with the rest of my family.

The next few weeks I remember it being really hard on him and it seemed like he was getting worse instead of better. When I looked around I felt like everyone was giving up. After three months of intense treatments of chemotherapy was over he could tell he was getting better. We could all see a change in his attitude. One night, I remember talking about the fight we had all been facing. My dad explained to us that he truly had felt like giving up a lot of times. But then he also said something in him urged him to keep on. As he tried to make the best of things, the outcome slowly, but continually got better. We, as a family, all tried to think always on the bright side of everything that was happening. When I was about 14, I began to really and truly understand better about what we had been through, and what was going on in our life. I remember my dad telling me one night after a bad day, “Perseverance will always be your key.” Now I understand what he meant. When you go through hard times you just have to always make the best of them and eventually it will get better or you will make it through. Giving up will get you nowhere in life, while perseverance can take you further than you would ever know. Now when I go through things, I can always look back and know how to handle the situations. I have learned to never close yourself to your past, but use what you know to make it through.